


the darkness within

by nickofhearts



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Happy Halloween!, Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-25 05:07:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12523660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickofhearts/pseuds/nickofhearts
Summary: Once upon a slasher movie.





	the darkness within

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamingcicadas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingcicadas/gifts).



Noct was so _cold._ His side still ached where Ardyn had stabbed him, though the pain had subsided until it didn't hurt to just _breathe_ anymore. If he rested a little longer, maybe he would have enough strength to even get up and look for help.

Noct closed his eyes and let the darkness pull him down once more.

-

He was—making his way through the hallway? Noct kept losing time, moments blurring together, or he'd wake up collapsed against the wall, his hand tacky with blood where it was still pressed against the wound. He was so _hungry._

-

"G-Gladio?" Noct stuttered out. He felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes. Gladio was still and unmoving where he'd fallen, and he—

Noct came back to himself, confused about where he was, what he was doing? He felt a _lot_ better now, enough to push to his feet and look around, searching for things that might help them get the _fuck_ out of this hellhole. 

There was a strange bloody imprint in the center of the room, like a body had lain there, though no trace of it was left now. 

Noct shrugged. No body meant that his friends were still out there, they still had a chance. He licked at his lips absently, wondering why they tasted so _sweet._

-

("Oh _my,_ " Ardyn murmured with a slow smile. "You _are_ a pretty thing, aren't you?" He tsked. "It's really too bad you're a _Lucis Caelum._ "

Someone was screaming, but it wasn't Noct. He couldn't get enough _air_ to scream. He looked down at his side where Ardyn's knife had slid into him, like it was a dream, or a terrible nightmare. It hurt, it hurt, it _hurt._ )

-

Noct rubbed at his eyes, then winced when that just smeared the blood from his hands onto them. Was there blood in his mouth too? How deep _had_ Ardyn's knife gone? Had it hit anything vital? He'd know if it had, wouldn't he? He wouldn't be walking around like this if Ardyn had nicked his heart, or his spleen, or something he _needed_ to live, right?

Maybe he was still dreaming. Was he actually still bleeding out on the floor while Ardyn laughed?

Or was he already _dead_ and this was hell. Maybe he'd wander through these halls for an eternity, searching for his friends that weren't anywhere to be found.

Noct started laughing, and then he couldn't stop, clutching at his sides as hysteria overtook him, but that was strange. His side didn't even hurt anymore. Noct peeled his shirt up, looking at the unmarked skin that was revealed. Ardyn _had_ stabbed him, hadn't he? Noct hadn't imagined that, hadn't imagined the searing _pain_ of the knife cutting into him, again and again, until Ardyn had let him drop to the floor like something useless to be discarded.

-

Ignis found _him,_ his arm snaking out of a shadowy corner as Noct had been stumbling past and yanking him into a side room that Noct never would've noticed on his own.

"Thank the gods," Ignis breathed. "You're _alive,_ Noct."

"You're bleeding," Noct replied dumbly. He couldn't look away from Ignis' arm, which had a wet gash up the side of it that was still oozing blood, a _tantalizing_ smell that was making Noct's mouth water . . .

"Yes," Ignis retorted shortly. "So are—"

Before he could finish, Noct had bitten down. The bone crunched satisfying between his teeth, spilling sweet marrow, and Noct bit and ate and swallowed until it was all gone.

He burped, wiping his mouth. 

Had he heard Ignis calling for him? He'd thought so, but there wasn't anyone here now.

-

Noct stumbled out of the house, clutching at his side again. It was like a phantom pain that came and went, and Noct couldn't be entirely sure he wasn't just delirious from the agony and imagining everything before him. It _hurt,_ or didn't it? He was so hungry, but then he suddenly felt full and satiated.

" _Help me . . ._ " Noct called out. "Someone, _please,_ " staggering to his knees on a particularly brutal shock of pain that ran through him all of a sudden. 

" _Shit,_ Noct," Prompto suddenly appeared—had he been up a tree? He was tugging Noct back to his feet, chattering at him about how there wasn't any cell signal here, and he'd lost contact with Gladio and Ignis when they'd all run in different directions after Ardyn had stabbed Noct in the gut and left him to die.

"Speaking of," Prompto declared. "You look _good_ for a dead man, Noct."

Noct gave him a wry smile.

"Except for your eyes," Prompto added on a sudden note. "They're looking kind of creepy. You should get that checked out, Noct."

"Maybe my near-death wound first though, yeah?"

They both looked as Noct tugged his shirt up, and the wound was gone again, like it'd never been. Prompto's face was white. He staggered away from Noct like he was some kind of _monster,_ and not Prompto's best friend that he'd known since childhood.

"You're not—you're not Noct—" Prompto stuttered out.

"I'm still _me,_ " Noct told him in a growl. "Only _better._ "

Prompto screamed when Noct lunged for him, but there was nowhere for him to run. Noct caught him with his _teeth_ before Prompto had even made it ten paces. Best friends were _so_ delicious.

-

Ardyn found him gnawing the last of the meat off of Prompto's bones, feeling a strange sort of disconnect from the whole situation. He'd _eaten_ all his friends, but he didn't feel bad about it. Just...hungry, like he was sorry there wasn't any more. 

"What a _delightful_ turn of events," Ardyn declared pleasantly, clapping his hands together.

Noct bared his teeth at him, showing black gums. "Gonna try and kill me again?"

Ardyn shook his head with a laugh. " _Heavens,_ no."

He lifted a hand to curl against Noct's jaw, touching a fingertip delicately to his _fangs._ Ardyn's eyes glimmered golden in the darkness, same as Noct's did now, and his own teeth were sharper than any human teeth should be.

" _You_ shall be a better vengeance than any I could have planned," Ardyn murmured to him, with an almost covetous tone to his voice, though Noct didn't refuse the kiss that was pressed against his lips. 

Ardyn tasted _good,_ of blood and darkness, and Noct fed on both, of late.


End file.
